T is for Torture
by Pit-Trap
Summary: Miss Pauling and Scout are in a spot of trouble. They not only have to get out of it by themselves, but also rescue the rest of the BLU team as well.


Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, TF2, etc.

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Scout and Miss Pauling were both roughly pushed into a room and they both stumbled in. The door slammed shut behind them. They both straightened up and turned to look at the door, frowning.

"So…" Scout then turned to Miss Pauling. "Got any weapons on ya?"

Miss Pauling glared at Scout.

"I'll take that as a no." Scout rolled his eyes. "How'd ya get caught?"

"Scout robots, ironically," Miss Pauling snorted. "They weren't as fast as _you_, but fast enough to catch me."

Scout grinned. "Glad to know I'm faster than 'em," he said. "Shame they caught ya, though. Here I was thinkin' ya'd be the one to come to our rescue."

"Oh, we're all getting rescued," Miss Pauling said determinedly.

"The Administrator sent reinforcements?" Scout asked hopefully.

"No," Miss Pauling admitted sheepishly. "We're busting out of here. Somehow." She glanced around the room she and Scout had been locked into. There was a table and a single chair near it. It was pure white. Eerie. There was a window on one wall, but when Miss Pauling walked over to it she found she couldn't see through it. She frowned. "What's been going on here, Scout?"

"Oh, y'know, the normal kinda torture stuff."

"Details, Scout."

Scout frowned and looked away. "We've been kept in different rooms, cells, whatever," he started. "Haven't seen any-a the guys since I've been here. When they wanna talk to ya, they take ya to different room than your cell. Then they, uh, "interview" ya. Haven't gave anything away, don't worry. Anyways, when they're done "interviewing" you, they just take ya back to your cell. I assume they're cycling through us all. I dunno, though."

"Have you respawned yet?"

"Oh, yeah." Scout gave a crude grin. "Sucks that they hacked into the respawn system. They redirected it to a different room other than the cells. Have you respawned?"

"Not yet," Miss Pauling sighed. "But I assume that's what will happen in here."

"It's weird," Scout suddenly said, looking around the room. "This doesn't look like the integration room I was brought into before."

Miss Pauling turned to look at Scout. "It doesn't?"

"Nu-uh." Scout shook his head. "They always took me to the same one. The usual kind: dark, one light, they got ya seated at a table and smack ya around when ya don't answer right. Then ya respawn when it gets to be too much, y'know?"

"You haven't respawned recently, have you?" Miss Pauling looked at Scout. "You've got a bruise on your cheek and dried blood on both arms."

"Nah." Scout shook his head and crossed his arms. "I respawned earlier this morning. Some-a Gray's goons, not robots, took me to a room and roughed me up a bit a little before you came along. It was weird, though. They usually wail on me for longer than they did. It was like they cut it short or somethin'. Not that I'm compalin', though!"

Miss Pauling narrowed her eyes. "Wait, did you say _before_ I came along?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"And then they cut it short? What happened? What happened after that?"

"Well, after they did that, they took me back to my cell 'n' not five minutes later, take me back out again. We go through some halls and then I'm shoved in here with you."

Miss Pauling's gears were turning. "This integration room doesn't look like the others," she said, mostly to herself. She turned to look back at the window.

Blinking, Scout said nothing.

"We're going to get interrogated in here," Miss Pauling said simply. "Probably beaten, maybe killed and sent through respawn if we're lucky."

Scout frowned and took a step towards Miss Pauling. He looked determined. "Look, Miss Pauling, I'll make sure they won't lay a finger on ya-"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Scout." Miss Pauling walked over to the window once more. "Besides, it's not you or I that I'm really worried about. It's the rest of the team."

"What?" Scout looked confused.

"Look at this window, Scout."

Scout walked over to stand next to Miss Pauling. He looked through the window, but couldn't see anything. The window prevented it. "I can't see through it. Is it like one-a those detective windows? Like were the cops can see through the window, but the perp can't?"

"Exactly like that." Miss Pauling nodded. "We can't see through it, but whoever is on the other side can. And guess who's on the other side."

It took a few seconds, but Scout's eyes eventually widened in realization. "The rest-a the team," he gasped.

"The rest of the team," Miss Pauling repeated as she placed a hand on the window. "I bet they're on the other side of this window. Gray placed them there. To watch. He'll send someone in to interrogate us. Someone in to beat us. He won't be looking for answers from _us_, though. He'll be looking for answers from the rest of the team."

"They won't give anything away," Scout defended his fellow BLUs.

"He's playing on their instincts, Scout."

"What?"

"You won't like what I'm about to say-"

"I've liked what you've been talking about?"

"Scout," Miss Pauling said, getting the Bostonian's attention again. She removed her hand from the window and turned to face Scout. "Men have two very primitive instincts: protect the women and protect the children."

Scout narrowed his eyes, understanding what Miss Pauling was getting at. "I am not a child," was what he said in return.

Miss Pauling almost laughed out loud, despite their situation. "No, but you are the youngest on the team."

"That doesn't mean any-"

"Focus, Scout," Miss Pauling interrupted. "They're playing on the team's primitive instincts and they're using me and you to do it."

Scout nodded, but still scowled. "They're basically gonna torture _us_ in hopes that seein' our pain will get the rest-a 'em to squeal."

"Yes," Miss Pauling said, still looking through the window. "I bet Gray even has some sort of sound system so the rest of the team can hear our screams."

"_Great_," Scout said sarcastically. "Spy was right. I am danger-prone… And this Gray guy's a real dick!"

"I have to agree," Miss Pauling sighed. "He's certainly playing his cards right. Someone's going to squeal. Who do we have to worry about the most?"

"Hey!" Scout glared at Miss Pauling. "None of the guys're gonna squeal, Miss Pauling! It's against our contracts! I wouldn't still be gettin' beaten on if they had! And they're not gonna start squealin' now. We're strong."

Miss Pauling looked at Scout sadly. "I know you are and I'm sorry, Scout," she said and shook her head. "But who do we have to worry about the most?"

Scout's face fell. He hesitated, but eventually said, "Solly's in the clear. He wouldn't utter a word if he knew it goes against the rules. Hell, he'll prolly scream 'n' shout more than us, but he won't give nothin' away. He'll jus' be mad that he can't help us."

"That sounds like Soldier."

"Yeah," Scout nodded, staring the floor. "Pyro... He's cool 'n' an awesome teammate. I like him. He prolly won't like seein' us in pain. He cares for the whole team, y'know?" He leaned against the wall.

Miss Pauling nodded.

"Heavy should be fine," Scout went on. "I'm pretty sure he's already seen his own family being beaten, so we won't make much of a difference." He sighed, pausing for a moment. "I'm unsure about Demo, but I can't see him squealin'. Hopefully he still has some alcohol in his system and'll be too drunk to remember this."

When Scout hesitated once more, Miss Pauling prompted, "Engineer?"

Scout almost cringed. "He won't like it one bit. Not at all. He's a real tough guy, trust me, but y'know how you said all that stuff about primitive instincts? Yeah, he's certainly got 'em. He cares for the team jus' like Pyro. I'd be… be worried about him the most."

"Understood."

"Medic should be good, though," Scout went on glumly. "We'll prolly be bleedin' 'n' shit. He sees that all the time. S'difficult to say about Sniper. He acts like he doesn't care, but he does. He's pretty cool, too." He paused for a long moment. Scout looked at the window, face crestfallen. "Spy… should be trained for this kinda thing. When he's told not to say something, he won't tell no matter what. He shouldn't be too bothered by us gettin' beat on, he should be good…" he trailed off and moved his gaze to the ground.

Miss Pauling sighed, frowning. "So we have to worry about Engineer and Pyro the most, and possibly Sniper?" Her hand ran through her hair in frustration.

"They won't squeal." Scout looked back up at Miss Pauling, eyes blazing.

"Maybe," Miss Pauling said. "But I'd still feel better if went with Plan B, just in case."

Scout did a double take. "Huh?"

"You know, Plan B."

"What's Plan B?"

Miss Pauling grinned. "The part where we bust out of here and save their asses."

Scout straightened up, lips twitching upwards as well. "I'm likin' the sound-a Plan B. Tell me more."

"I'm working on it," Miss Pauling finally stepped away from the window. She walked around the white room. She looked at everything as she walked the perimeter of it. She looked under and all around both the chair and table. She looked at the door, which was still faithfully locked. She walked back to the window and next to Scout. "Okay, both of us have no weapons or anything on us that could be potentially made into weapons."

"Yeah."

"We're both pretty exhausted, especially with one of us having been tortured and all."

"Definitely."

"We're at a huge disadvantage because us and the rest of the BLUs got caught and Gray has quite a few robots at his disposal."

"Are you goin' somewhere with this? 'Cause it is makin' me even more depressed 'n' shit."

Miss Pauling brought a hand to her chin, still thinking. She glanced at the locked door once more. "Scout," she said slowly and began to grin. "C'mere."

Scout leaned down a bit so Miss Pauling could frantically whisper some instructions to him. "Uh-huh…" Scout said as she went on. "Gotcha… I can do that… But what if-"

There came a clanking sound from the door. Someone was unlocking it.

Scout and Miss Pauling both jumped. "Just follow my lead," Miss Pauling quickly hissed before the door opened.

Miss Pauling was expecting the lookalike, robotic Heavy that came into the room. What she wasn't expecting was Gray Mann to be coming in right after it. He was… quite a sight. Miss Pauling stopped herself from wrinkling her nose or glaring (unlike Scout) and settled for a steely look. She watched as Gray walked over to the table and take a seat in the only chair. He linked his hands together atop the table and looked at the two with a grin. "How nice it is to finally meet you," Gray said as his eyes moved over to Miss Pauling specifically. "I've heard many wonderful things about you, Miss Pauling."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Miss Pauling replied, fighting to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "But I can't say I was expecting an audience with you of all people, Gray Mann."

"Neither was I!" Gray laughed. "Here I was, expecting my robots only to be able to catch a few of your mercenaries, but not only did they manage to get a hold of the entire BLU team, but you as well!"

"Ya must be so proud of yourself," Scout sneered.

Gray gave the Bostonian an icy look and transferred it when Miss Pauling said, "I must admit, after I heard about you from the Administrator and after the… _incident_ at Well, I _was_ expecting to see some exemplary pieces of technology," she said, trying not to smirk. "I suppose I was expecting too much. Robots must be tricky to work with."

Gray frowned, but managed to still sound somewhat civil as he replied, "These robots of mine aren't, ah, quite finished yet." He looked somewhat forlornly at the robotic Heavy, which still just stood still as a statue next to the table. "Still have a few nuts and bolts that need to be tightened. I realized that after the little incident at – what did you call it? – oh, yes, Well."

"Completely understandable." Miss Pauling nodded. "I would want to upgrade them after _that_, too."

"Oh, yeah," Scout agreed with a smirk.

Gray suddenly smirked. "I knew I'd like you, Miss Pauling," he said. "You're a woman who gets right to the point."

"Point?"

"Of course," Gray went on. "As said, after that whole incident at Well, I realized I needed to improve my robots. Make them more like your mercenaries." He grinned at her. "Make them _better_ than your mercenaries. I know very well how to do it, but I'm afraid I'm just missing a few details."

Miss Pauling was frowning deeply.

"I haven't been able to perfect the Medi Gun quite yet," Gray explained. "Or the Engineer's _adorable_ little sentries. In fact, all the weapons my robots carry are mere prototypes. Meant to be improved later. There are just _so_ many things about your mercenaries I realized I didn't know, and so many things that I need to know to make my robots better than your mercenaries."

"Which is why you sent a horde of robots to attack my mercs," Miss Pauling said flatly.

"What do you expect?" Gray shrugged. "Helen refused all my _generous_ business offers-"

"For a reason," Miss Pauling snapped, interrupting him. "They were hardly offers, anyhow. But really, what were you expecting? Her to just give up the companies after you murdered your brothers?"

"I wasn't expecting _much_. I did offer her a lovely position in my company as well, as I said." Gray waved a hand dismissively. "But it's in the past now," he said. "And we're here now. So let's get down to business." He grinned rather evilly. "I'm looking to improve their weapons mostly: different guns, sentries, Medi Guns, Invis Watches, like I said, the works. I've tried questioning your mercenaries, but they just won't talk. Surely you, Miss Pauling, the Administrator's right hand woman, must know just as much as the Administrator and the mercenaries about their weaponry."

"Of course I know about my mercenaries' weaponry," Miss Pauling said confidently. "Discussing my mercenaries' weaponry goes against my contract, though. As does it go against theirs. Giving away _any _information regarding their job goes against their contracts. They were just following protocol."

"I see." Gray Mann did not look pleased. "And what about you, Miss Pauling?"

"I'm a stickler for the rules, Mr. Mann." Miss Pauling narrowed her eyes.

"I was afraid of that," Gray said and heaved a sigh. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this, Miss Pauling, but you leave me no choice." He waved his hand and that was all that was needed. The robot Heavy whirred to life. Making odd, mechanical sounds, it took a step closer Scout and Miss Pauling.

Scout instinctively took a step closer to Miss Pauling.

"Now I'm going to ask the both of you about your weaponry," Gray said calmly, staring evenly at them both. "Let's start with the Invis Watch the Spy wears. Tell me all you know about it."

Scout quickly glared at Gray before settling his glare on the Heavy robot. He didn't say anything.

Miss Pauling looked right at Gray. "That's classified information," was all she said.

Gray sighed again. He waved his hand once more and the Heavy robot lunged for the two of them with a raised arm.

Scout shoved Miss Pauling back so the hit from the robotic Heavy hit only him. But that hit alone was enough to send him flying into the white walls of the room. He cried out when his shoulder connected to the wall and then slumped towards the ground.

"Scout!" Miss Pauling went over to kneel beside the BLU. "Are you alright?"

"'m fine, Miss Pauling," Scout answered. Legs shaking, he pushed himself back up.

"Let's try this again," Gray frowned. "Perhaps you would like to tell me about the Engineer's sentries?"

Scout opened his mouth.

Gray leaned forward a bit.

"Fuck you."

Gray scowled and made another gesture with his hand.

The robotic Heavy's large hand closed around Scout's throat and shoved him into the wall. Its other hand grabbed Miss Pauling by the shoulder and then wrenched her up against the wall as well.

Scout reached up to the metal hand that choked him and tried to push it away, but to no avail. Its grip was unnaturally strong. But he had a one-track mind. Flailing, he managed to gasp out, "Let go-a her!" Using his grasp on the metal hand as leverage, he lifted both his legs up to strike the robotic Heavy's other arm. It was just strong enough make it let go off Miss Pauling. She slipped out and away from its grasp. Unbalanced, the robot also loosened its grip on Scout and he fell down to the hard floor. "Fuck," he hissed in pain.

He wasn't able to stay there for long. The Heavy robot reached down and grabbed Scout by the throat once more. It slammed him back into the wall, causing him to let out a strangled gasp. He flailed his legs again, kicking the robot in the chest, but it did nothing more than cause an odd drumming sound.

Miss Pauling watched in horror for a moment, before lunging forward. She tried to tear the robot's hand away from Scout, but a simple wave of its other hand sent her flying into the wall much like Scout had earlier. She recovered in a few seconds, standing back up and gasping.

Scout's gasps sounded much worse, though. With the robotic hand closed around his throat, all that was coming out was these horrid choking sounds. His legs were slowing down in their kicking as well. He wouldn't last much longer.

Miss Pauling couldn't see him respawn like this. She turned to Gray Mann. "Stop."

Gray didn't move.

"We'll _talk_," she hissed.

Gray waited for a few seconds before he finally waved his hand.

The Heavy robot immediately dropped Scout, who landed awkwardly on his left side.

Scout gave a few strangled coughs before they turned into more frantic gasps.

Miss Pauling rushed to his side, kneeling down once more. She helped him sit up. "Breathe, Scout, breathe," she said. After a few seconds, she again asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

Miss Pauling didn't miss that questioning look he sent her as she helped him stand up. Once he was steady, she faced Gray. "You wish to know about our weaponry?"

"Yes."

Miss Pauling walked closer to the table Gray was sitting at. "I'm not the Administrator, but I am a superior to the BLU team. Higher-ranking than they are," she explained with a frown. "I can _make _them tell you about their weaponry."

"And that doesn't go against protocol, Miss Pauling?" Gray sneered.

Miss Pauling glared. "Bring the Engineer in here," she said. "You wanted to hear about his sentries, yes? You'll get no one better to talk to about sentries than the Engineer."

Gray hesitated, wary.

"Unless you'd rather hear about Scout's bats," Miss Pauling said flatly. "They're _very_ difficult to make, I assure you."

Gray didn't seem amused by the sarcasm, but nodded. "Very well."

As Gray stood up, Miss Pauling ran her hands through her hair, fixing it. It was a stringy mess and her bun was falling out. A bobby pin fell from her head. She reached down to pick it up and paused. Then, quite suddenly, she shot up, pushing the table from the underside. It flipped over and into Gray, who gave a shout of surprise. Miss Pauling didn't stop. She pushed the table forward, into the wall, where she held it as best she could. "Scout!" she called.

Scout jumped into action. He whirled around to face the Heavy robot. He dropped down close to the ground and kicked the robot's legs out from underneath it. The Heavy robot, with its short and stubby legs, gave little resistance and fell over. "Go!" he then shouted.

Miss Pauling dropped the table, leaving Gray to slump against the wall. She ran for the door with Scout right behind her. Throwing it open, they both jumped outside. Miss Pauling quickly turned around and closed the door, happy to hear the clicking sound of a lock behind her. She turned back around, asking, "Which way now?"

"Let's go left," Scout said, looking both ways. "That's the direction I came from."

Miss Pauling nodded and took off in that direction. As Scout quickly took the lead, she called to him, "Do you think you can remember how to get to the cells?"

"I'll try!" Scout said as he ran, trying to look in all directions at once. "But all these halls look the same!"

"Maybe there are some s-" The loud sound of an alarm cut Miss Pauling off. They both screeched to a stop. "That was fast," she muttered unhappily.

"D'you hear that?" Scout suddenly asked.

Miss Pauling froze and listened. She could just barely hear it over the alarm: footsteps. Lots of them. "That sounds like a lot of robots," she said. "Jesus, that was _real_ fast."

"And comin' this way," Scout pointed out. He glanced to his left. "Let's take this hallway."

Miss Pauling shrugged and took off down it. Scout kept an even pace with her now. It took them only a few moments to reach the end of the hallway which then split into two different hallways.

They both stopped again. Scout stepped forward and peaked around a corner. With a yelp, he jumped back. "Solly bots," he gasped. "Comin' this way!"

"We can't go back!" Miss Pauling hissed, looking around. "Where else can we go?"

"Um," was all Scout said. He began to look around the hallway in the same frantic fashion as Miss Pauling. He was practically bouncing in place, worried. But he froze as he looked down. "Y'know Turbine?" he suddenly asked Miss Pauling.

"What about it?" she asked.

"Gray must-a designed this building with that place in mind!" Scout grinned. "Look at the air vents!" He bent down.

Miss Pauling looked down. When she saw what Scout was looking at, she grinned and bent down as well. The air vents were big. Maybe not as big as the ones at Turbine, but big enough for the both of them to fit into.

"Sweet!" Scout grabbed the bars that covered the vent. He tried to pull it off, but it barely moved. "Help me pull it."

Miss Pauling grabbed the bars. Grunting, the two of them were able to pull the covering of the air vent off after a few tries. Miss Pauling looked inside. "Looks like we'll be crawling."

"Whoopee," Scout said sarcastically as he looked inside as well. He gestured and said, "Well, ladies first."

Miss Pauling crawled into the vent.

After she was a few feet in, Scout went in. He scooted in backwards and when he was halfway in, he grabbed the vent covering. Scout backed a tad bit more in and then fastened the vent covering back in place.

Just in time, too. The two held their breath as, seconds later, the passing legs of robots stomped by. The scurried deeper into the vents, with Scout crawling backwards as best he could.

"Here," Miss Pauling said as she looked ahead. "There's a turn here. You'll have enough room to turn around."

"'kay."

The vent split into two directions, left and right. Miss Pauling backed herself into the left one. She scooted herself a few feet back to give Scout some room.

Scout crawled backwards into the right one, then moved forward to the left one, and then was able to back himself into the first one they had entered. Miss Pauling didn't miss the quiet hisses of pain he gave when he bumped the sides of the vents. The vents were just barely big enough for Miss Pauling to sit up in (Scout had to sit hunched over rather uncomfortably), but they paused to catch their breath anyways.

Miss Pauling noted the dark bruises blooming around Scout's throat. He probably had many more. "Medic will be able to heal those once we find them, right?"

"If we can get his Medi Gun back," Scout replied as he brought a hand up to rub at his neck. "Obviously all-a our weapons were taken from us when we were caught."

"Amazing." Miss Pauling rolled her eyes. "Gray has some of your weapons, but still needs to interrogate you about them?"

"He probably can't figure them out," Scout snorted with a grin.

"Let's hope."

"So…" Scout bit his lip. "What now?"

"Now," Miss Pauling sighed. "Now we find the rest of the team and bust them out."

"Uh-huh." Scout nodded and paused. "How're we gonna do that? Find 'em, I mean."

"It won't be fun," Miss Pauling said as she ran a hand through her hair. "But we'll have to stay in the vents for now. We entered these air vents easily and we can exit them easily. There's gotta be an air vent near the cells you guys were kept in. We'll find it, get out of the vents, and rescue 'em."

Scout frowned and resisted the urge to groan. All this crawling was going to kill him. "Well," he sighed. "At least we know we're on the right floor."

Miss Pauling just nodded.

"Which way we gonna go?" Scout asked. "Left or right?"

Miss Pauling shrugged. "Let's just go right. We'll have to stop and check every vent exit we see."

"You got it."

Scout took the lead, crawling into the right vents first. Miss Pauling crawled after him. The alarm that had been blaring the past five minutes had finally stopped. They both knew the robots hadn't stopped looking, though. And neither would they. Scout and Miss Pauling stopped at every air vent exit they ran into, with Scout checking to see if he recognized any of the outside corridors. Neither of them had a watch, so they didn't know how long they had been crawling in the vents. Their hands and knees ached plenty by the time Scout recognized something outside of an air vent.

"Miss P," Scout gasped. "Those doors! I've seen 'em! I mean, I've been through 'em before."

Scout crawled forward so Miss Pauling could see. This particular vent exit was higher up on the wall, but Miss Pauling could clearly see the double doors Scout was talking about. "Those double doors?"

Scout looked at her from over his shoulder. "Yeah," he said. "I noticed a few of our weapons in there at one point, too. We should be real close to the cells."

"Well that only makes it easier." Miss Pauling grinned. "Do you know where to go from here?"

"The vent jus' keeps goin' straight for a while," Scout frowned. "But let's keep goin'. I think if we keep goin' this way, we'll get to the cells."

"Lead on, then."

Scout scuttled forward and Miss Pauling wasn't far behind. The vent went straight for a couple dozen feet, and then spilt into two different directions: left and straight. They went straight first, but after a dozen feet or so, Scout said, "Nu-uh, stop. This is a dead end. Gonna hafta go back."

Miss Pauling held back a groan. The two started awkwardly crawling backwards down the vent. The came back to the original spilt and went left this time.

As Scout crawled on, a vent exit appeared. When he reached it, he looked out between the bars of the cover. "The cells!" he suddenly said excitedly. "Miss P, this is it!"

"Let me see." Scout crawled forward so Miss Pauling could look out the exit. Miss Pauling was soon aware this vent exit was on the ceiling, and glanced all throughout the hallway. Nine, black doors lined one side of the hallway. Nothing was on the other side. That was it. She frowned.

Scout had crawled forward in the vent to where another split had come up. He was able to crawl into the right vent, back himself into the left, and then crawl back to the exit Miss Pauling was still looking out. "See that far right door?" he asked. "I was kept in there."

"Hmm," Miss Pauling hummed absentmindedly, still staring down as the doors.

"Well?" Scout asked. "What're we waiting for? Let's get outta here and get the rest-a the guys!"

"Wait," Miss Pauling said and pointed. "Look."

Four robots that looked very much liked Soldier entered one end of the hallway. They stopped at each door, checking to make sure it was locked and letting out a confirming buzz when they found each door securely locked. They then all stomped out the other end of the hallway.

"Lookin' for us?" Scout wondered. "Or just checkin' the locks?"

"Probably both," Miss Pauling sighed. "Did Gray have guards patrol the area like that before?"

"I saw some robots pass my cell a lot," Scout said with shrug.

"Then those guys will be back soon," Miss Pauling decided. "So let's make sure we rescue the team before they come back."

"Yeah!" Scout placed his hands on the vent covering and started to push.

Miss Pauling did the same to help. After a few tries, the covering came loose and, before either of them could do anything about it, fell to the ground and landed with a loud _clang_. Miss Pauling and Scout both gasped and scooted away from the exit. For a silent few minutes, they waited, fully expecting robots to come running.

Soon tired of waiting, however, Scout leaned forward to look down to the ground. The air vent covering was the only thing in the hallway. He looked to Miss Pauling. "I think the coast is clear."

Miss Pauling nodded. "We'll have to be careful when jumping dow- Scout!"

Scout had leaned forward too much, wondering how he was to jump down from the air vents. Gravity had solved that problem for him. He fell out of the vents, but managed to flip over and land on his back. His connection with the ground wasn't as loud as the air vent covering had been, but hurt plenty. "Ahhh," he groaned from his place on the ground. He suddenly held up a hand. "I'm okay," he called to Miss Pauling.

Miss Pauling slapped a hand to her face. She was just barely able to sit up in the vents and maneuver her legs so they dangled out of the vent exit. She pushed herself out of the vents and landed on her feet. Frowning, she then bent over to help Scout up. "How many bruises does that make?"

"Based on the way my body is currently feeling," Scout groaned as he stood up. "One too many."

"Do try not to get anymore."

"No promises." Scout grinned and walked over to one of the cell doors. He tried to open it, but it was obviously locked. He frowned.

"You know," Miss Pauling mused as she walked up to the same door. "I figured Gray's locks would be a little more… high tech. It's a simple keyhole!"

Scout whined, "We don't have time to go look for the key, though!"

"The robots will get us before that," Miss Pauling agreed. "There has to be something else we can do…"

Scout frantically glanced around the hallway. Still being empty and all, his eyes soon wandered back to the cell door in front of him. He taped his foot impatiently and looked to Miss Pauling, who had a hand on her chin in thought. Her hair was falling out of its bun and was a stringy mess. Scout's eyes widened as he stared as her. "Miss P, I got it!"

"What?" Miss Pauling looked at him.

"You're wearing bobby pins in your hair, right?"

"What?"

"Bobby pins!"

A hand flew to her head. "Yes," Miss Pauling answered. "Why?"

"Gimme one," Scout said excitedly. "I can pick the locks with one!"

"You can?" Miss Pauling raised an eyebrow at Scout as she fished a bobby pin out of her hair. As she handed it to him, she said, "Quite frankly, I'm even surprised you know what a bobby pin is."

"Ha ha." Scout snatched it from her and leaned down so he was eyelevel with the keyhole. He stuck the bobby pin into the lock and wiggled it around.

"Did Spy teach you that?" Miss Pauling asked as she watched him work.

"Nah, my ma did."

"Your _mother_ taught you how to pick a lock?"

Scout paused to glance at her and grin. "Don't ask," was all he said before going back to work.

Miss Pauling rolled her eyes. Deciding to give it a try herself, she pulled another bobby pin from her hair and went to the door to the right. As she maneuvered the bobby pin around in the keyhole, she heard a clicking sound. Not from her door, though.

Scout grinned and stepped away from the cell door. "All right! Let's see who's behind door number- ack!"

As soon as Scout started to pull the door open, whoever was on the other side of the door charged out of the cell. And as they charged, they grabbed Scout and shoved him all the way into the opposite wall and held him there. _And,_ unfortunately for Scout, that someone turned out of be Heavy. A very angry Heavy. "Robots will pay for-"

"H-Heavy! It's me!"

Heavy blinked. "Scout?"

Scout was lifted all the way off the ground and his feet dangled. He squirmed in Heavy's grip. "Yes," he squeaked. "Now let go so I can breath!"

Heavy dropped Scout, and then, as Scout teetered unsteadily, grabbed Scout once more to help him stand. "Scout! I… I am sorry. I thought you were robot. I was angry at what they did to you and Miss Pauling. Was going to make them pay."

"I understand, big guy," Scout said as he rubbed his back, wincing. "Just one more bruise to add to my collection."

"Good to see you have so much energy, Heavy," Miss Pauling noted, catching their attention.

"Miss Pauling!" Heavy turned to her. "You are alright?"

"I'm in much better shape than you two," she replied.

"Just respawned little while ago," Heavy admitted and cracked his knuckles. "Am ready for robot killing now, though!"

"Good." Miss Pauling grinned. "C'mon, Scout. Let's bust everybody else out."

"You got it!"

Miss Pauling was able to get two cells unlocked, releasing one very angry Engineer and a quietly seething Sniper. Scout got everyone else out with his more experienced lock picking skills. Spy was as calm as ever, Medic was badly battered, Soldier had to be kept from screaming, Demoman was sober and wanting to explode more than a few robots, and Pyro seemed caught between wanting to light robots on fire and hugging the rest of the BLUs.

Miss Pauling surveyed her mercenaries as they gathered together. They were weaponless, battered and bruised, and beyond tired, but standing and ready for action. Perhaps the most important factor was that they were finally together. The BLU team was ready. Miss Pauling smiled as she continued to watch her mercenaries.

"What now, Miss Pauling?" Spy suddenly spoke up, causing the rest of the BLUs to quiet down and look her way.

"Now?" Miss Pauling's smile grew. "Now we go kick Gray Mann's ass."

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A/N: A continued oneshot from Chapter T of my story _T is for Team and F is for Fortress_.

I do admit I've yet to read any FanFics about Gray Mann or any that have him in them. I've never read anyone else's interpretation of him. I've only read the official comics he's been in. So I apologize if his personality wasn't spot on or anything of the sort.

I must also admit I'm not happy with the result of this now finished oneshot. The first half was fun to write and I liked how it turned out (it was the bit featured in _T is for Team and F is for _Fortress), but the rest that I added to finish this oneshot is what I'm not happy with. Hopefully you, dear readers, enjoy this a little more than I do.

And shhh. Let's just pretend you can totally pick locks with bobby pins, okay? Okay. 'Cause I'm pretty sure that's not possible…


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